RELAPSE RECORDS 22-01-2010

Origin: Finland
Length: 38:34++

Oh the beginning of the nineties, what a great time, no wondering, no worrying, just  the time were “Nokia” still was a town with a small death metal boom from the mighty death metal land Finland and not the mobile cell phone crap we are fed up by nowadays… this was the time we still bought records and putted them on our player to suffer the mind-blowing death metal tunes from many underrated, unknown, obscure and great (mostly Scandinavian) death metal bands… yes kids, this was the real deal and not the downloading, I-phoning or I-potting MP6’s in your player time…
On the contrary most of these old school (Swedish… haha) death metal albums were released by small, but infamous record companies, for example almost all the products of a “Drowned Records” you can get yourself immediately because of the superb quality standard, but first you have to find them; then you need to bring more than your “Nokia” money to get the original stuff. An even more obscure and unknown label is “Thrash” records from France. Back in the nineties this label was specialised in releasing death metal classics in the best (Scandinavian) tradition, for example “Excruciate - Passage Of Life, Epitaph - Seeming Salvation” and the Finnish death metal record of all time “Mordicus - Dances From Left”. Those records were released in smaller quantities back than and from the beginning of the new millennium became highly collectible and therefore are now impossible to find and way too expensive sold by businessmen (Die you mother fuckers for killing music), who don’t care for the music at all, but only for their own Nokia money.
So finally now also Convulses first record “World Without God” is been re-released by Relapse Records (Check out also the aforementioned bands, while all of them are re-released by smaller record labels lately, but definitely deserve your attention and your ears…). Together with the ten original songs, you also get the full demo “Resuscitation Of Evilness”, “Countess Bathory” cover and a live song “Incantation Of Restoration” making it in total six six sixteen.
Well yeah as said before Convulse started out 1990 to make noises, death metal noises and after some rehearsals and the demo, they were able to record their first album amongst the first wave of death metal bands, who were into the old school Swedish death metal style. Actually they were the initiation for more superb extreme and underground Finnish bands (Mordicus, Purtenance, Demigod!!!). Unfortunately, like all the releases on the Thrash record label, the first “World Withouth God” album never got the attention and the recognition it deserves. Yeah these releases got acknowledgement years later (years too late…), when the bands were already gone, financially broken or changed names and styles. Before we handle the record, Convulse released after the album in 1992 two more singles and a second album on Relapse Records (!) called “Reflections”; during these two years already a small style change had happened going from death metal to a more death and roll style. This second album is still easy to find (or downloadable as you wish traitors!) and for those interested take a listening.
World without God we are living in for almost 20 years and still I am convinced he doesn’t exist... but we don’t need him since we have this godly masterpiece. The pure relentless power, which is still dripping from the record and your speakers, after 18 years is breathtaking and mind blowing. Death metal performed in the only true 90’s style, in the best harsh and raw sound it needs, to feel the power and brutality of this mainly mid-tempo music with inhuman vocals. The best death metal bands existed during this time and have written timeless music that controls you, hunts you and energises you to withstand all the trends and fashions in the (death) metal scene.
Eerie dark sounds, while the guitar is shredding mid-tempo rhythms into your ears and is being weaved with low utter and barbaric vocals, leads are thrown in by the guitars to haunt the death metal with the typical Scandinavian melodic trademarks. An overall extremely dark atmosphere, tried to achieve by all those want to be evil black metal bands, reached by only a few death metal bands. Pure evilness…
The sound of the demo was captured well on this release and states once again the unique and great death metal Convulse was able to write and create. While my promo streamer doesn’t have any information I can’t say anything about the LIVE songs, although the quality is average.
Fantastic job and thanks for bringing this back to (a)life again…my future wish list for a few more rare diamonds: “Utumno, Wombbath, Carbonized”.
Old school death metal deserves to be more alive than ever!!! The Godless truth.

BLOODCORPSE